MediaVoice BLOG #4

This week, Africville's Radio Play, PDF's the easy way, Gordon Mclendon and Online Radio.

I noticed that SeaView Park under the Mackay Bridge in Halifax was the scene of an Africville Reunion a few weeks ago. It reminded me of one of the best Radio Dramas I’ve heard in years and one that was written by fellow DHS Alumni David Woods. Trying to track down David Woods is a major challenge at the best of times as he’s always travelling Nova Scotia roads working on a new project. Anyway.. a number of years ago David wrote a Radio play called ‘Part of the Deal’ which was produced and aired on CBC. A small tip for CBC Halifax…it's time to air it again. The Africville story is a captivating and interesting history lesson that needs to be taught in Nova Scotia Schools. Growing up in Crichton Park, I had heard about Africville but knew very little about it. It wasn’t until David Wood’s gave me a copy of ‘Part of the Deal’ on cassette no less, that the whole Campbell Road Settlement story finally came to life and it all made sense to me. I’m going to have to check the CBC program guide because I have to admit, I can’t remember the last time I heard a Radio Drama on CBC Radio One, specifically a Radio Drama written and produced here in Nova Scotia. What I'd like to know however is who owns the Movie rights to his play? Yes it is that good. If you happen to run into David Woods, tell him I said hello….and that it’s time he uploaded ‘Part of the Deal’ to iTunes. Nova Scotia, no check that..... the world needs to hear it again.

Let’s do a quick check on some cool multimedia. My free software ‘Pick of the Week’ is for creating your own PDF’s. Ever need a PDF…well here’s a great way to do it and so easy. A PDF which stands for a Portable Document Format was created 16 years ago by Adobe Systems. It was developed so documents could be exchanged regardless of your software, hardware, even your operating system. I use them all the time and especially when transferring sensitive documents to MediaVoice clients. The CutePDF Writer makes it easy to create your very own PDFs. After you install it, you’ll find it located in your list of Printers. After you create a new document, simply hit PRINT and then scroll down and choose the CutePDF writer. It will then ask you where you want to save it. Could it be any easier? For Windows 98 all the way to Vista, CutePDF is a FREE download available at www.acrosoftware.com

My ‘quote of the week’ was triggered after I happened to read J. Colliano’s recent column about Radio stations making the huge mistake of promoting themselves as ‘commercial free’. It comes to us from the late radio pioneer Gordon McLendon. Mclendon made KLIF in Dallas one of America’s first “Top 40” stations. It was fast-paced and polished with a heavy dose of local news and on-air personality. Gee, that sounds like either CJCH or CHNS in the 1970's. Gordon's broadcasting credo. “You can have the greatest sales staff and signal in the world and it doesn't mean a thing if you don't have something great to put on the air. Always keep your eyes on your programming first and your station’s advertising sales will take care of itself.” On that note, a quick note to young on-air jocks… ALWAYS credit the source. Years ago I was taught that if you used someone’s words on-air from your own town, that it was stealing…. but if it was from another province or state that it was research. Not so today in 2009. The other side of the planet is only a mouse click away. Always give credit when those words you’re speaking aren’t your own.

Finally, some exciting news that I hope to be able to tell you about in the weeks ahead. MediaVoice recently completed our first extensive design of an online Radio Studio. Ok, so that in itself may not be earth shattering news however what's really worth noting is 'who' approached us to do it. Let's just say it will be a great Maritime news story and I suspect even a national story when it happens. Coincidentally, the phone call immediately followed my previous Blog #3. Scroll down and read the 2nd section and you'll realize why I wasn't totally surprised when I got the call. I have to admit however that even my eyebrows twitched a bit with wonderment when I realized who is planning this innovative business venture.

As always I welcome your comments and thanks for reading.

Dave ‘0db’ Bannerman